[Official] Round 06 - Monaco Grand Prix

[frostie]

Taken from my website:

In a sport that changes seemingly every second Monaco is the one shining example of consistency in a sport. The challenge facing the drivers this weekend is the same as the task that was faced by Juan Manuel Fangio in 1950.

Monaco is a circuit that every single corner echoes of the history of Formula 1 and this year is no exception with the race taking play on the 61st anniversary of Stirling Moss’ superb victory for Lotus. That victory was also the first Formula 1 success for the Norfolk based team that went on to win another six times around the streets of the Mediterranean Principality. Their last win at the circuit was in 1987 with Ayrton Senna at the wheel before he moved to McLaren the next season.

It is impossible to think of Monaco without thinking of the Brazilian who had arguably his most impressive performances on the street circuits. Whether it was his incredible performance in his first appearance at the circuit in 1984, when a red flag before half distance robbed Senna, and indeed Stefan Bellof, of the chance of challenging Alain Prost for victory, or his sixth and final dominant Monaco victory in 1993 the circuit the triple world champion left his mark at every corner.

The Monaco Circuit

Monaco is unique in every way. Even though numerous street circuits have come onto the calendar in recent years Monaco has retained its position as the jewel in the crown of Formula 1. One element that sets Monaco apart is its timetable with practice taking place on Thursday before a rest day on Friday for promotional activities.

The track evolves heavily throughout the weekend with the goal posts constantly moving with more and more grip being put down onto the circuit. With the track getting faster and faster it is crucial for a driver to adapt to the circumstances lap on lap and make tiny adjusts on every corner to what they had done up that point.

Reigning world champion, Sebastian Vettel, has yet to win on the streets of Monte Carlo but he is relishing the challenge that this weekend will place before the field.

"It's remarkable to drive an F1 car around Monaco,” said the German. “It's a completely unique track and a unique challenge for the driver. You have to push as hard as on a normal race track, but the smallest mistake can bring a big penalty. Grid position is very important and can determine your race, as traditionally overtaking in Monaco is very tricky.”

The desire to push yourself further, to dig deeper is key to a fast lap in Monaco. But crucially, unlike at other circuits, overstepping the mark will lead to an inevitable crash and the lost track time will make it all but impossible to catch up to your rivals.

The tunnel is perhaps the most famous feature of the Grand Prix circuit with drivers diving into the darkness flat out through a right hand bend before braking heavily into the seafront chicane, perhaps the only legitimate overtaking position on the circuit.

Monaco resident Nico Rosberg says that: “The drive through the tunnel at 280 kph is always a real adventure. You are so close to the barriers that you can really feel how fast the cars actually are. This year, the race has the potential to be more exciting than ever. If KERS and the DRS do make overtaking possible, it will be great for the fans."

Setup is crucial at Monaco. Drivers want a car that allows them to “point” it at the apex of corners and get on the power as early as possible, just like at most circuits, but the challenge for engineers is that the road surface is so different to anything else on the calendar. With a high crown in the middle of the road surface and drains at the apex of corners a car needs to be able to glide over the bumps.

Sam Michael, Williams’ technical director has faced this challenge on numerous occasions.

“Monaco is a low grip street circuit,” said Michael as he commented on the challenges of setting up a car for this track. “Requiring the softest springs and highest ride heights that we operate over the whole season. Normally reducing understeer and improving traction are the keys to a good laptime.”

What to expect this weekend

Each race weekend of 2011 has sprung surprises as teams get to grips with the new regulations and the new Pirelli tyres and as a result the lottery that is the Monaco Grand Prix is almost impossible to predict.

Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel will once more start as firm favourites but the opposition can have reason for confidence this weekend with McLaren sure to be confident of their competitiveness. The Woking based team is the only in the pit lane that can boast having two previous winners of this race driving this weekend and Lewis Hamilton will surely be in his element on the tight and twisty confines of Monaco.

The Englishman, victor of a wet 2008 race, was inspired in Barcelona and that competitiveness will surely inspire him this weekend. Encouragingly for McLaren they can point to their strong performance in the final sector of the lap in Barcelona as a true indication of their potential this weekend. That section of the Spanish circuit is full of the type of stop start corners that make up the lap in Monaco.

"After such a strong showing in Spain, I'm really looking forward to Monaco this year because I think we'll see a different race from previous years,” said Hamilton. “I think a combination of DRS, KERS Hybrid and the tyres will really make the racing come alive, and I'd love to see some overtaking action and some hard racing this year.”

Whether or not there will be overtaking is debatable but this year’s race has all the elements to be a classic. The new regulations have made Formula 1 incredibly exciting and the battle at the front looks set to be just as dramatic this weekend as it was last.

Fernando Alonso’s unbelievable qualifying performance and opening third of the race in Spain was one of the biggest shocks of the season thus far. The Ferrari seemed hopeless for much of the Spanish weekend and it was only the team’s inability to make the harder tyre work in Spain that saw Alonso struggle in front of his home crowd.

This weekend however, he will not have to deal with the hard tyre as Pirelli will bring their two softest compounds to the Principality. This could be all Fernando needs to challenge at the front of the field. He is yet to win in Monaco and that is surely a statistic that the Spaniard will look to put right this weekend.

Mark Webber needs to assert himself this weekend. After taking pole position in Spain the Australian faded to fourth place at the flag and unless Webber can start winning races he has no chance of getting back into title contention.

It is clear that the new regulations do not suit him quite as much as the old but the Australian is a fast racer and once he unlocks the code to the new style of racing he could become a force to be reckoned with again. His domination last year in Monaco was absolute and it is crucial that he repeats such form.

Monaco is one of the few circuits where the driver can make the difference. Michael Schumacher knows this as well as anyone on the grid and the German showed signs of returning to form in Barcelona with a strong performance in the race. The seven times world champion will not challenge for the victory this weekend but another strong performance would surely show that he is making the progress expected of him in 2011.

Strategy has proved to be quite uniform in 2011 with the majority of the front runners all marking the cards of each other by finishing the races with similar strategies. This could all change in Monaco.
The tyres look set to be as much of a handful as ever and a three stop strategy looks to be the fastest strategy in the race, but is it the best strategy?

Three stops are only best if a driver can get in clean air throughout the race and with the possibility of a safety car or traffic ruining an in or out lap it could be a risky strategy. Even so I expect the majority of the leading field to once again act in unison.

Jenson Button has tried contrary strategies in the last two races and has been rewarded in one and hindered in the other. This weekend the Englishman will use a two stop strategy and will try and get out ahead of his rivals after their second stops. Armed with fresher tyres the likes of Vettel, Hamilton, Alonso and Webber will be well placed to attack Button but the 2009 winner has shown that he can absorb a lot of pressure and maintain his cool. This race could echo 1992 when Senna kept Nigel Mansell at bay even though Mansell caught him by four seconds a lap!

F1 2011 revolves on tyres

Pirelli will bring the super-soft tyre to a race for the first time in 2011 along with the soft compound that has been used throughout the year thus far.
Paul Hembery the Italian manufacturer’s motorsport director is clearly looking forward to this weekend:

"Monaco is a fantastic race that makes no sense on the one hand as it's so different from everywhere else, but it's still the jewel in the crown of the calendar on the other. We're very excited to see our PZero Red super-soft tyres making their debut around the twisty streets this weekend, although this type of circuit will obviously be a completely new experience as we've only tested on permanent tracks.

"The super-soft rubber is designed to provide outstanding performance over a short period of time but this comes at the price of durability, so all the teams will have to consider their strategies carefully. Getting it right will make the difference between winning and losing. For longer runs, the PZero Yellow has already proven itself to be a reliable and popular product so far this year, contributing to extremely close racing while providing the drivers with all the confidence they need to push to the maximum. We said from the start that we wanted to give racing back to the racers, and we're hoping very much that Monaco will be a classic example of this."

Lewis Hamilton shares Hembery’s excitement ahead of this race:

“I think the tyres will probably give us the greatest scope for excitement and the best chance of passing,” said the Englishman. “While I don't think the Super-Soft and Soft compounds will be as critical around Monaco as they were at a place like Turkey, I still think the drop-off we encounter as the tyres go off should create opportunities for overtaking. And I don't think the marbles will be as bad as people fear, because they tend to occur at the exits of high-speed corners, and Monaco is generally quite a low-speed track”

This evolution of the circuit will make qualifying exceptionally challenging for the teams. Whereas in recent races everyone has done their best to keep a spare set of fresh option tyres available for the race the constant quickening of the track and the difficulty in overtaking will make it impossible to take chances in qualifying.

The super-soft tyre should be worth something in the region of 0.6s per lap in qualifying and as a result it should be impossible to qualify on the harder prime tyre and still look to set a competitive time. The option tyre will not be a durable tyre, especially on full tanks at the start of the race, and as a result the drivers who fail to the top ten shootout should be well placed to move through the field at the opening round of pit stops.

Weather for the Monaco Grand Prix

The four day forecast for Monaco is for sunshine on Thursday but with clouds rolling in from Friday onwards. Rain is forecast for Saturday but whether it falls during qualifying will be a lottery. Race day should be warm and sunny however with temperatures expected in the low 20s.

BBC Schedule

Session	Time	Channel
Friday 26 May
Practice one	0855-1035	Red Button
Practice two	1255-1435	Red Button
Saturday 28 May
Practice three	0955-1105	Red Button
Qualifying	1210-1430	BBC 1
Sunday 29 May
Race	1205-1520	BBC1
F1 Forum	1520-1620	Red Button
Highlights	1900-2000	BBC Three

Key points to keep in mind

Total pitstop time	24s
Average margin of victory	19.5s
Average Finishing %	50%
Average starting position of winner	2nd
Winners from pole	24
Number of times the winner has led every lap	18

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Misc

Chatroom

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[Tathrim]

Link to Championship Standings for people to refer to:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Formula_One_season#Results_and_standings

Also, for those with external IRC clients (such as XChat or ChatZilla):

Server: irc://irc.phishy.net
Channel: #motorsport

[Pitstop]

Great analysis frostie, well done
Now off to ponder!

[Louis Agilais]

thanks for this analysis, frostie. I appreciated especially the way you mention the drivers and people you refer, like in these examples:

Reigning world champion, Sebastian Vettel, has yet to win on the streets of Monte Carlo but he is relishing the challenge that this weekend will place before the field.

"It's remarkable to drive an F1 car around Monaco,” said the German.

...and Lewis Hamilton will surely be in his element on the tight and twisty confines of Monaco.

The Englishman, victor of a wet 2008 race...

Michael Schumacher knows this as well as anyone on the grid and the German showed signs of returning to form in Barcelona with a strong performance

Jenson Button has tried contrary strategies in the last two races and has been rewarded in one and hindered in the other. This weekend the Englishman will use a two stop strategy

Again, thank you for being correct.

[herowassenna]

Looking at the BBC schedule, can someone confirm to me, has Monaco changed from running on a Thursday and moved to Friday??

[Andy77]

Don't miss to visit 10 Tenth Chatroom from 0400 EST / 0800 UTC / 0900 BST / 1000 CET for P1 from Monaco today

[Andy77]

Originally Posted by herowassenna

Looking at the BBC schedule, can someone confirm to me, has Monaco changed from running on a Thursday and moved to Friday??

Monaco kept the traditional Thursday practice despite having no bank holiday on Friday this year. Session 1 goes ahead from 0800 UTC

[frostie]

Originally Posted by herowassenna

Looking at the BBC schedule, can someone confirm to me, has Monaco changed from running on a Thursday and moved to Friday??

Ive got the date right and the day wrong, sorry about the confusion. First practice is on Thursday

[Marbot]

It will be interesting to see what the weather holds in store. And perhaps more importantly, how that new bit of tarmac holds up at St Devote after Tuesdays truck fire there!

Should be another enthralling GP.

Nice one frostie.

[Andy77]

P2 starts 0800 EST / 1200 UTC / 1300 BST / 1400 CET - 10 Tenth Chatroom welcomes everyone

[Marbot]

The thing that stands out from first practice is that there is very little degradation on the soft tyre! Could be a two stop, or even a one stop race!

[bludvl_x19]

If it weren't for the two compound rule, is it possible that someone could have run a no stopper?

[Bononi]

Nice intro frostie !


Oh please, can we see less pit stops ? That's an improvement.

[stripedcat]

Nice introduction, Frostie. Looks like Vettel is very strong again, at least from the Free Practise times.

[Marbot]

Originally Posted by Bononi

Oh please, can we see less pit stops ? That's an improvement.

Pirelli reckoned on a two-stopper, even before the practice sessions started.

Softer tyres means less wheel spin and sliding, so they hang on better at tracks where the loads in high speed corners aren't that high.

Although, tbh, I think that Monaco is a track where you have to try and win it in the pits.

[bjohnsonsmith]

A geat intro as ever, thanks.

Though I find the tyre stops this season contrived, overtaking is so difficult at Monaco, that ironically this is probably the one race which could benefit from them.

[Marbot]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Though I find the tyre stops this season contrived.

They always have been. F1 tyres have always been made to last as long as is necessary. They can be made to last for 4 laps or 4 races. Anything in between is 'contrived'. Except for when there's a tyre war, but even those are influenced by other regulations such as refuelling. But one of those seems far from likely these days.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Marbot

They always have been. F1 tyres have always been made to last as long as is necessary. They can be made to last for 4 laps or 4 races. Anything in between is 'contrived'. Except for when there's a tyre war, but even those are influenced by other regulations such as refuelling. But one of those seems far from likely these days.

In the mid to late '70s when tyre compounds were first being experimented with it wasn't contrived. It was a totally new aspect to racing.

[Marbot]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

In the mid to late '70s when tyre compounds were first being experimented with it wasn't contrived. It was a totally new aspect to racing.

Unfortunately, tyre technology has advanced way beyond what is necessary to have a race run at very fast speeds without the need for a tyre stop. We saw with Bridgestone in 2010, that they were easily capable of making a very fast, but also a very conservative tyre, last an entire race distance. Where do you go from there in F1?

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Marbot

Unfortunately, tyre technology has advanced way beyond what is necessary to have a race run at very fast speeds without the need for a tyre stop. We saw with Bridgestone in 2010, that they were easily capable of making a very fast, but also a very conservative tyre, last an entire race distance. Where do you go from there in F1?

If they are going to include tyre stops at least they can be sensible about it and not have the plethora of stops like we saw last weekend.

[Marbot]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

If they are going to include tyre stops at least they can be sensible about it and not have the plethora of stops like we saw last weekend.

Possibly they wouldn't want that many at every race. But it's probably not an exact science, is it?

Pirelli got the contract because they were prepared to do what the FIA asked of them. Michelin wanted to go down the green 'we can make our tyres last for four races' route. Imagine what the first few races would have been like with tyres like that! And all so that Michelin could prove a point.

"Last year Pirelli was selected to be the sole tyre supplier, beating Michelin to the deal. One of the criteria was that the Pirelli tyres were cheaper and they would supply more sets than Michelin."

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2011/0...rice-is-right/

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Marbot

Possibly they wouldn't want that many at every race. But it's probably not an exact science, is it?

Pirelli got the contract because they were prepared to do what the FIA asked of them. Michelin wanted to go down the green 'we can make our tyres last for four races' route. Imagine what the first few races would have been like with tyres like that! And all so that Michelin could prove a point.

Last year Pirelli was selected to be the sole tyre supplier, beating Michelin to the deal. One of the criteria was that the Pirelli tyres were cheaper and they would supply more sets than Michelin.

It never will be an exact science, as some drivers are better at looking after their tyres than others.

[Marbot]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

It never will be an exact science, as some drivers are better at looking after their tyres than others.

Firstly, I would say, that some cars are better at doing it, and they aren't necessarily the best cars on the grid! (Ferrari are seemingly rubbish on harder tyres) Then I would say that the drivers have a minor impact on making the tyres last. But yes, some are better than others at doing that.

I don't expect any drivers to be stopping more than 3 times during the Monaco GP. Indeed, it could be that stopping once could be possible!

The great thing about it is that, unlike last season, we don't already know what the most likely tyre strategy is i.e. start on soft tyre, change to hard tyre after 15 to 20 laps, finish race on that tyre.

[Adam43]

I see he is fastest in P2. I hope Teflonso can have a strong. Last year he had a shocker in Q, I hope he can be up there this year and we have another in the mix.

[Marbot]

I think that there are maybe 7 or 8 cars capable of getting pole, or at least getting very close to pole. I also think that Rosberg will be much closer to the front, this time.

Kolles has also promised not to ruin the race by protesting the EBDs.